Radiant Nights
by JMenace
Summary: Since she left him, frigid as the setting moon, there is nothing she loathes as much as the light of dawn on the clouds. But as in all things, the sun falls with its regrets, and the moon rises again with the light of a new love. (Alternate Universe)
1. The Greatest Romantic

I'm not apologizing for this one. (The first half of the summary is taken from _Mibu No Tadamine_)

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><p>The sun had long given way to the moon and its mournful rays when Jiraiya, legendary Gama Sennin of Mount Myouboku, stumbled into his fancy hotel suite to check on his godson.<p>

The two of them had spent most of the day burning through the Capital's famous Star Festival, rushing from event to event and occasionally taking to the very expensive, very ancient rooftops when they got fed up with the crowds- the samurai hadn't been pleased, but Naruto had been determined to see as much as there was to be seen, and Jiraiya really didn't have the heart to deny him. It wasn't like the kid's parents would ever have the time to show him such simple pleasures, being the people they were. Not to say that Jiraiya wasn't a very busy man himself, of course- he was just good like that.

The paper door to their suite slid open with a quiet rasp. Jiraiya kicked his geta off like the drunken legend that he was, which was to say with force and precision, punching both right through the doors to the hotel kitchen. He winced.

So maybe paper doors weren't the best choice.

Setting aside the threat to his deposit for another time, Jiraiya crept through the suite's grandiose living area and peered into the room Naruto had claimed as his own. He'd dropped his godson off to get some rest just before sundown, because they'd traveled a hefty distance and Capital festivals ran long, anyway. There would be more than enough time for them to hit all the major attractions._ All _of them.

Jiraiya giggled, patting the notebook where he recorded his research, kept in the pocket over his heart where it belonged. He'd gotten quite a bit done after putting his godson to bed.

"Speaking of," he muttered, leaning against the door frame, "where have you gotten off to?" Naruto's bed was a mess of discarded pillows and sheets, with a very conspicuous lack of Naruto to go along with them.

Jiraiya spent a few minutes staggering around their suite and drunkenly calling out for his charge before he remembered he was a legendary shinobi and reached out for the kid's chakra signature. He stepped out onto the balcony connected to his own room moments later, the midsummer breeze peppering him with pleasant little kisses. He crossed his arms, eying the blond boy sitting on the railing.

"Nightmare?" He asked. The six year old jumped at the sound of his voice, though he thankfully didn't fall off. Jiraiya was far too drunk to go jumping after him- or not drunk enough, maybe.

"Sensei!" Naruto blinked, his question registering, and shook his head. "No, I stayed up."

"And why didn't you tell me you weren't tired, brat?" Jiraiya growled, wrapping the boy up and ruffling his hair with extreme prejudice. "We could have gathered research together!"

"Mom says I can't look at your research! It'll make my hair gray like Kakashi-sensei, and I'll go blind!" Naruto squealed, kicking his little feet and battering Jiraiya with his little fists. "'Sides, I had fun here!"

"Oh yeah? How's that?" Jiraiya paused in his ruffling, and Naruto pointed up at the night sky. Countless stars speckled the dark expanse, glimmering reflections of the festival lights still going strong below them. Seemingly in the center of them all was the moon, full and shining with faint silver light.

"It's pretty," his godson murmured. It was.

"So you've been staring at the moon all night, eh?" he asked, and Naruto nodded mutely. Letting him go, Jiraiya leaned on the railing and considered the festival below them. "Doesn't sound very fun to me."

Naruto scrunched his six year old face up in his thinking expression, and Jiraiya chuckled. Got him every time, the thinking face. "Sensei?" he finally asked. Jiraiya looked at him sidelong, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know if you love something?"

Well now.

Jiraiya hummed, weighing the pros and cons of answering seriously. On the one hand, he probably wouldn't realize Jiraiya wasn't being serious if he tried joking about it, which could lead to some tragic six year old heartbreak. On the other hand, Jiraiya's actual opinions on the subject were somewhat heavy, and influenced by several tragedies of his own. Also, boobs.

"I think your parents would know better than I do," he decided, because Kushina would be furious with him no matter what he said. Naruto shook his blond head, frustrated.

"I asked, but they just told me about how they love me. Mom says I'm too young to worry about how she and dad love each other." He turned the big watery blues on Jiraiya, and gods help him if those didn't get him even more often than the thinking face. "Please, sensei?"

"Fine, fine! Just get those eyes away from me," he said, poking the boy out of his line of sight. "Tell me how you feel, and we'll go from there." These affections of his could only run so deep, his alcohol-addled mind assured him. The Gallant Jiraiya could handle a six year old's schoolyard crush.

"I feel... fuzzy," Naruto said, turning his gaze skyward. "Whenever I look at it, I-"

"It?" Jiraiya shook his head, burying his face in his hands in theatrical grief. Off right from the start. "You can't love an it, kid. Loving a woman is all about communication- if you treat her like the divine, she'll be your goddess forever. If you treat her like something less than human, she'll tear you apart like one."

... Maybe he was getting ahead of himself.

"My goddess?" Naruto said, softly, as if rolling the words around in his mouth to get a taste for them. Jiraiya peeked through his fingers and saw the boy's eyes crinkle. "Got it."

"Good. Don't forget it." Satisfied, Jiraiya closed the gaps in his fingers. It was easier to ignore how utterly hammered he was when it was just him and his slightly musky fingers. What an eager little lady that Chiyeko had been. "Now, fuzzy?"

"Yeah. When I look at her, my chest feels like- like when you sit on your foot too long and try to move it around. It gets sorta hard to breathe, but not in a bad way. It makes me smile, sometimes." His godson fidgeted, voice turning shy in a way that Jiraiya had thought impossible for any spawn of Kushina's. "No one else does, but I think she's the prettiest girl in the world."

That was so adorable it was upsetting his stomach. "What's she like, aside from pretty?"

"I don't know a lot about her," Naruto admitted, sounding pained. "But... I think she's sad."

"Why's that?"

The faint sound of rustling cloth as Naruto shrugged was his only answer. "All I know is I want to know more about her, and..."

"And?" Jiraiya peeked through his fingers again, this time bearing witness to the bizarre phenomena that was a bashful Naruto.

"I want her to feel like I do," he mumbled. Jiraiya blinked. Looked up from his hands.

And laughed.

"Hey, hey! What's funny, sensei!?" Naruto cried, slapping him on the back, but Jiraiya just shook his head and laughed harder.

"You," he forced out between chortles, batting the boy's hands aside and ruffling his hair again, "are more like your father every time I see you, kiddo."

"Dad says all he gave me was his good looks," Naruto disagreed, though it didn't stop him from grinning at the comparison.

"If he was lucky, maybe." Jiraiya shook his head, regarding his godson mirthfully. "Well, I'm no expert-" Not with _this _kind of love, wink wink nudge nudge. "- but I'd say you're doing a pretty good job loving this girl so far. The next step is introducing yourself to her. Can't feel the same way about you if she doesn't know you."

Naruto considered this, starlight shimmering in his ridiculously blue eyes. "How? She's so far away..."

Jiraiya chuckled grandly. It had been more than a few years since his cute little student had asked him how to approach Whirlpool's feistiest refugee, but the advice he'd given Minato was still clear as day in his mind. "First, you prove that you're worthy of her affections! If she does not swoon at the very sight of you, you've already failed; if her heart does not flutter at the touch of your voice, you've got no chance; if her breath does not catch when you lock eyes, don't even leave your house!"

Jiraiya threw himself away from the railing, gesturing wildly to his stunned godson. "You must be the embodiment of seduction, the epitome of suave, the culmination of all that is masculine. She may seem far now, but you'll never know for sure until you close that distance. Reach out and grab her! Tell her your name, and when she asks why she should care, sweep her away in your unrelenting maelstrom of love!"

He paused, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and then nodded firmly. Naruto, for his part, seemed lost for words. Jiraiya let him be. It had taken Minato a while to process his sagely musings, but he'd come around in the end. He smiled, lost in fond reminiscence.

So lost, in fact, that he almost didn't notice when his godson reached up, grasping at the air above his head with frightening intensity in his eyes.

"Hello!" he called, his wispy little voice carrying up into the sky. "My name is Naruto, and you should care because I love you! Please take care of me."

Jiraiya choked back another laugh, grinning widely at the boy's earnest expression. "Don't get ahead of yourself, now. You're not getting married just yet." At his crestfallen look, he hastened to add, "Not bad at all for a practice run, though!"

"Practice run?"

"Yes, generally you can't introduce yourself to a girl if she isn't there."

Naruto tilted his head, and with the grasping hand that he had yet to lower, pointed up at the sky. "But she's right there."

Jiraiya followed the path of his finger all the way up to the moon.

"... I'm sorry?"

"She's there," Naruto helpfully repeated. Jiraiya double checked. Yes, his godson was pointing to the moon.

How drunk was he again? "Naruto, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

Wait, fuck.

"Just so we're clear here," Jiraiya said, shaking what cobwebs from his head that he could, "we've been talking about the moon this whole time?"

Naruto nodded, smiling warmly. "She's pretty, isn't she? My goddess."

Did... he just turn his godson into a monk? Please do not tell him he just turned Minato and Kushina's darling shinobi-to-be into a monk. His drunk ass was _so dead_.

"Naruto," he said, clearing his throat and assuming the gravest tone he could muster. "I think there have been a few miscommunications here. What I really meant by 'unrelenting maelstrom of love' was-"

"Can you teach me, sensei?" Naruto asked, and _god damn those big watery blues_.

"Teach you what?" He asked warily.

"How to be the embodiment of seduction, the epi-" He paused, nose scrunching. "E-pi-to-me of suave, and the culmination of all that is masculine!" Naruto grinned.

"So that you can woo the moon." He had to be sure.

"Right!"

"Naruto," he tried again. "Have your parents ever told you about the birds and bees?" Naruto shook his head. "Has _anyone _told you about the birds and bees?"

"I like birds."

God damn it. Jiraiya slammed his hands down on the railing, once again thankfully not startling his godson off of the building. "You know what, kid? You're on. I'll teach you how to woo every fair lady this world has to offer! When I'm done with you there won't be a single feminine body that can resist your charms, celestial or otherwise!" Because there wasn't a chance in the Shinigami's stomach that it was going to be _him _that explained sexuality to his six year old godson.

"Really!?" Naruto cried, brimming with excitement.

"Really."

So he'd just teach him how to seduce the moon instead.


	2. The Turncoat Heir

Uchiha Sasuke's life came crashing down at seven years old, torn out from under him in a flash of sky blue eyes and flying thunder.

It happened on a quiet, unassuming day. A happy day, even. Sasuke came through the gates to the Uchiha Compound at a light jog late in the afternoon, having stayed after class to practice the kenjutsu techniques Itachi had been showing him off and on. He wasn't making very much progress at all, but he was in good spirits nonetheless. His skills with kunai, so far behind his older brother, had nonetheless netted him a perfect score in the latest examination.

Sasuke had performed better than everyone else in his class, just like Itachi did when he was Sasuke's age, and for that he was happy. He had proud news for his father, and for that he was _ecstatic_.

His clansmen greeted him on his way to his home in the heart of the compound, each of his aunts, uncles, and cousins invariably glad to see him. He waved back to all of them with a bright little grin and a few hasty words, eager to give his parents and maybe his brother the news, if he was back. Itachi hadn't been around to see him off to the Academy that morning, despite being on leave from ANBU for the week- hadn't even been home. Sasuke had been curious about it all day. Maybe a little worried, too, though he would never admit to it.

Luckily, he would never have to. Sasuke yelped as he suddenly found himself running forehead-first into a pair of slender yet strong fingers. He flinched back, blinking up at his older brother armored figure, and then grinned a little wider. It looked like his day was only getting better.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke."

"Itachi!" He said excitedly, twisting around to pull the Academy instructor's evaluation report from his backpack. "We had a kenjutsu test today, and I used that trick with my wrists like you told me-" Sasuke turned back to his brother, clutching the sheet of paper, and his voice died in his throat.

He had only looked away for a moment to dig through his backpack, but in the space of that moment, he was suddenly _there_. A man a full head and shoulders taller than Itachi, clasping the off-duty shinobi's shoulder and watching Sasuke with warm amusement sparkling in his sky blue eyes.

Aside from his exceptional height- in comparison to Sasuke's thirteen year old brother, anyway- and striking eyes, Sasuke found himself drawn to the sudden arrival's hair. It was the color of the midday sun, a single shade brighter than golden, and it fell down to his shoulders in wild barbs that somehow made him look all the more dignified for its disarray. It was clear as day that he was a shinobi, from the hitai ate every so slightly obscured by his hair to the jonin flak jacket that clung tightly to him.

Finally, last of all for some reason, Sasuke noticed the voluminous red and white robes that were draped comfortably across the man's shoulders, and the tip of a conical hat poking up over his shoulder. A quick glance at the distant face of the Hokage Mountain was all it took to confirm it, and Sasuke made the connection. He gasped, shoving his examination report back where it came from and bowing low.

"Hokage-sama!"

The man, the _Hokage_, laughed and took his hand off of Itachi's shoulder to wave Sasuke's tension away. "At ease, Uchiha-san," he said, not quite managing a stern tone. Sasuke nodded after a brief moment's hesitation, stricken by the sheer enormity of the Hokage's presence. He had heard so many stories, from so many people...

"Is Itachi going on another mission?" He asked after gathering his wits and straightening up. He wrestled his voice into the clear, cool tone that his father always greeted guests with.

He hoped Itachi wasn't going on another mission. He still had three days of recovery before he was supposed to go back to ANBU.

"Not today," the Hokage said, sharing a knowing look with Itachi when Sasuke relaxed. "I was hoping to talk to your father, actually. Could you go get him for me?"

Sasuke nodded quickly, a familiar rush of pride coursing through him at the prospect of proving his worth- not as an Uchiha, this time, but as a future shinobi of Konoha. Before he could stamp down on the impulse, he found himself asking, "Is this a mission, Hokage-sama?"

He snapped his mouth shut immediately after, as if to trap the words before they could reach the legendary shinobi, but the last syllable danced precociously away from him. Itachi sighed, one part exasperation, one part amusement. Sasuke's face burned.

The Hokage didn't snap at him, or even laugh, though his eyes were bright with amusement as he nodded. "Of course, Uchiha-san," he murmured. "I'll have the payment forwarded to you as soon as I get back to my office."

Sasuke sketched another bow and hurried past the two shinobi before he could embarrass himself any further, and in doing so finally turned his attention back to the rest of the compound.

Nobody was greeting him anymore. Nobody was moving, either. They were all staring at Itachi and the Hokage, seemingly frozen in time. For a second, Sasuke didn't think they were even breathing. Then one of his younger cousins tugged on her mother's hand and asked her what everyone was looking at, and the trance that had overtaken the compound broke as dozens of Uchiha came alive with furtive whispers and shuffling.

Sasuke smiled ruefully to himself as he continued on to his home. At least he wasn't the only one caught flat-footed by the village leader's sudden arrival.

The paper doors to his home slide open with a sharp rasp, and not a second later his mother's voice came drifting out from the kitchen. "Sasuke, is that you? You're home late, young man!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, dropping his backpack on the floor but ignoring the indoor geta in favor of calling back into the house. "I was practicing my kenjutsu! I got a perfect score on my test because I've been using the techniques Itachi showed me."

A faint but happy exclamation was his answer, and his mother appeared in the hall with a small plate of sliced fruit in her hands. Uchiha Mikoto smiled brightly at her son, her features- so _Uchiha_- lighting up in a way that startled Sasuke every time he saw it.

"I knew you'd do well," she said, coming to the edge of the hall where the mud room began and crouching down to offer him some fruit. "We'll be having dinner soon, but I thought you'd be in the mood for a snack after all that extra practice."

Sasuke dutifully popped a slice of mango into his mouth, chewing happily. He was very hungry, after all. "Before that," he said, grabbing a slice of apple after some thought. "Where's dad?"

Mikoto took a bit of mango for herself and waved a hand vaguely behind her. "In his office, brooding over some police report or another last I saw him." Her expressive eyes, such a sharp contrast to his father's, crinkled at the edges. "Want to tell him about your test?"

"Well, yes," Sasuke admitted, before straightening up with grave purpose. "But I also have to tell him that Hokage-sama wants to see him." Wait. Was he allowed to tell his mother, too?

Before he could really start sweating about the potential blunder, shock flickered across Mikoto's lovely features, dashing the smile from her lips. Sasuke was surprised by her surprise, until he realized that this was the Hokage they were talking about. A personal visit was going to be a shock no matter who you were, he reasoned.

"The Hokage," she whispered. "Who told you this?"

"Hokage-sama did. He's waiting outside, by Zenko's house."

Mikoto rocked back onto her heels, inhaling a slow breath. "I see." Exhale. "Did you two arrive at the same time?"

"I think I got here first," Sasuke said, his brow furrowing in thought. "I don't know, though. I was talking to Itachi, and I looked away for a second to get something from my backpack. When I looked back, he wasjust _there_." It really did sound silly when he put it like that. He'd probably just missed the Hokage somewhere off to the side in his excitement.

"Oh," Mikoto breathed, looking like she did not find it silly in the slightest. "_Oh._" She set the plate of fruit down in front of Sasuke and was gone in a flash of whirling cloth and fine raven hair.

She returned with Fugaku not a minute later, and Sasuke froze with an orange slice halfway to his mouth at the sheer _thunder_ in his father's expression. The Uchiha head swept past Sasuke without a word, stepped into his sandals, and then inhaled slowly, just like Mikoto had done. Then he looked down at Sasuke, his expression smoothing from stormy to cool detachment.

"Take us to him," Fugakua commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Sasuke nodded, striding out of the house at a pace just short of a run. His parents still outpaced him within moments, his father forgetting the order to lead almost as soon as he made it. Sasuke managed to keep up with them with only a few short bursts of speed here and there, until they stopped dead in their tracks. His father went very, very tense.

Sasuke peered around them and found the Hokage and Itachi in much the same place as before, except this time there was a familiar looking woman standing with them. She was almost as tall as the Hokage, maybe an inch or two shorter than Sasuke's own father, and her mane of crimson red hair sparked an immediate memory. This was one of his mother's friends- he'd seen them chatting over tea on his way out to train or follow Itachi around more than once. If he remembered right, her name was-

"Kushina," Mikoto called, clearly happy to see the other woman. All the same, there was a certain tension in her voice. A certain something that Sasuke couldn't put a name to. For the first time since bumping into Itachi, he felt unnerved.

"Mikoto!" The new addition cried delightedly, waving. "It's been so long, I'd almost forgotten what you looked like!"

"Three days, I believe," Mikoto replied dryly. The underlying tension remained unchanged.

Kushina crossed her arms over her chest, a sudden frown marring her lips. "Now look, Minato, you've got her all nervous. I told you the robes were a bad idea."

The Hokage spoke for the first time since Sasuke's return, rubbing his neck and saying sheepishly, "It wasn't quite my idea, you know. Itachi is very persuasive." Itachi had told the Hokage what to wear? And he had _listened?_ Sasuke found himself regarding Itachi with even more respect than before, if such a thing were possible.

The bloody-redhead considered this, and then turned her stern frown on the young ANBU standing with them. Itachi, for his part, broke the staring contest he'd been engaging their father in and bowed his head in silent apology.

"He looks striking in them," he said quietly. Kushina hummed, her stormy gray eyes roving back over the Hokage. Finally, she heaved a defeated sigh.

"He does, doesn't he?" Itachi nodded solemnly.

"If I may," Fugaku said, apparently fed up with waiting to be addressed. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" The Hokage blinked, looking to Sasuke's father with some slight surprise, as if he'd just noticed his presence.

"Ah, yes. Are you planning a coup d'etat, Fugaku?"

The Uchiha clan froze for the second time that day. Clansmen that had been milling about and covertly listening in on their conversation stumbled to a stop in whatever it was they were pretending to do. Some dropped what was in their hands. Others gasped. Sasuke's mother closed her eyes, and Itachi mirrored the gesture from his place by the Hokage's side. The mischief faded from Kushina's expression, but her smile remained. Just a little sadder, now.

Fugaku, for his part, did not react at all. He met the Hokage's laughing blue eyes stonily, and replied without missing a beat.

"The Uchiha serve Konoha, Hokage-sama."

His words were sharp and clear. They cut through the sudden frozen stillness with ease, and Sasuke felt a fierce surge of pride burn its way up from his gut at the sound of it. He didn't know what a "coup d'etat" was, not then, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that whatever the Hokage was asking his father, Fugaku had answered correctly.

It was this moment that Sasuke would look back on in the years to come, with helpless fury at himself for his naivety, at his father for his answer, and most of all, at the Hokage for what came next.

"I see." The Hokage said, several beats of silence later. He favored the Uchiha head with a smile, and it might have been Sasuke's imagination, but he thought that Fugaku's rigid bearing eased. If only just.

"Well!" Mikoto said, clapping her hands and shattering whatever lingering stillness was left in the compound. Sasuke's clansmen hurried to collect their dropped possessions and hurry on their way. "I wasn't expecting guests, but I'm sure we can find food for two more if you'd like to join us for dinner," she told Kushina.

"That sounds great," Kushina said. There was something heavy in the words, though. Some regretful anticipation.

"So long as we're not intruding," the Hokage agreed. "First, though, would you mind gathering your clan's shinobi?"

This time, Fugaku did react. The muscles in his jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth, and for one single, terrifying moment his eyes bled crimson. Sasuke's mother moaned, and the despair in it made Sasuke's heart clench. The unease came back in full force, and he inevitably turned to Itachi for some guidance in his confusion. Itachi wasn't looking at him, though. He only had eyes for the Hokage.

"Of course," Fugaku ground out. He made a sharp gesture, and several nearby clansmen darted away to the four corners of the compound. "Sasuke. Return home until dinner."

"Actually," the Hokage interjected before Sasuke could make good on the command. "I think he should stay."

Fugaku's lips drew back, as if he meant to snarl at the village's leader. "He just entered the Academy. He's still in his first year." The legendary shinobi raised a single almost-golden eyebrow, and now Fugaku did snarl. "He is my _son_."

"He just performed a mission for me," the Hokage pointed out. Mikoto shivered, a choked little gasp slipping past her lips, and Kushina immediately closed the distance between the two of them.

"Oh, honey, none of that," the fiery woman murmured, wrapping Sasuke's mother up in her arms. And then, to Sasuke's alarm, his ever serene, ever smiling, ever _Uchiha _mother collapsed against her friend and began to sob.

"Mom-?" He whispered, reaching up to touch the hem of her dress. A slender hand grabbed his wrist and gently turned it away, and a soft poke to his forehead alerted Sasuke to the fact that his brother had crossed the distance between them as well.

Itachi shook his head when Sasuke looked desperately up to him. "Not yet."

It took a bit less than ten minutes to gather all the clan's shinobi that were currently in the village, though it felt infinitely longer standing there listening to his mother's quiet cries. When the last of them touched down around their group, Kushina raised herself from her soothing cooing to give the Hokage a nod.

"That's the last one."

The Hokage gave her a thankful smile, which she returned before turning back to Sasuke's mother. Then he cleared his throat and addressed the Uchiha clan's best and brightest.

"I'm told you're all in the loop, here, so I won't waste your time with pleasantries. Form a line." He swept his right arm out, shifting his unwieldy robes aside and sitting down with his legs crossed, pulling an ink brush from one of the pockets in his flak jacket. He smiled faintly at the gathered shinobi. "First one up gets a lollipop."

There was a single moment, as brief and as terrifying as when he had seen his father's sharingan flash, in which the gathered shinobi looked not to the Hokage for orders, but Fugaku. Sasuke would not realize it until much later, but this had been their last chance. Their best and final opportunity to set their plans in motion once and for all. All Fugaku had to do was give the order, and the full might of the Uchiha clan would fall upon the Hokage in an instant. He wasn't even standing up.

Of course, Sasuke would also come to realize that he had put himself in such a vulnerable position entirely on purpose. It was a statement, for the whole clan to hear. It didn't matter what kind of advantage they had over him, in the end. _They _didn't matter, in the end.

"Form a line," Fugaku echoed, the words seeming to physically pain him as he forced them from his throat, and the moment passed. The gathered shinobi- genin, chunin, and jonin alike- shuffled into a single line before the Hokage. His father moved forward to the front of the line, but on some silent agreement amongst the rest of them, another Uchiha stepped past him with a polite bow and quiet apology. The first to kneel before the Hokage was a chunin that had escorted Sasuke home from the Academy more than once when his parents and Itachi weren't available. Koji bowed his head, his face a mask of deference, and waited for the Hokage's judgement.

There was a thick, syrupy tension in the air as what seemed like the entire clan waited to see what the legendary shinobi would do. Sasuke wasn't the only one who didn't know what he had in mind as punishment, although he was one of the only Uchiha present who didn't know why he was handing it out in the first place. Civilians on the fringe and shinobi waiting in line held their breath as the Hokage reached up and tapped a finger against Koji's hitai ate.

The almost-golden haired man said something Sasuke couldn't make out from his place at the back of the line, and Koji nodded sharply, and pulled the plated cloth from his forehead with two quick jerks of his hands. The Hokage tapped his brush against his bare hand, and to Sasuke's surprise it sank an inch or two into his skin. When he pulled it back out, it was wet with ink.

The Uchiha compound held its breath as the Hokage drew on Koji's forehead. It didn't take him long to finish, less than a minute. When he was done he tapped his finger to Koji's head again, and it came away clean despite the ink that had been wet on the chunin's skin only seconds ago. Then, true to his word, he offered the teenager a lollipop from one of the pockets in his flak jacket.

Koji took it with trembling fingers. The civilians that were in a position to see him had all turned away, looking furious and nauseous in equal measure. Visibly gathering himself, Sasuke's cousin raised himself to his feet and turned to face his fellow shinobi.

He wouldn't have gotten a more explosive reaction if he'd stabbed them all in the face.

Younger shinobi cursed. Older shinobi cursed as well, but quietly, and with more passion. Sasuke saw hands clenched, footing lost, and composure stripped away all at once as his clan's strongest members looked upon the Hokage's punishment. Sasuke squinted, just barely able to see the curves and lines of dried ink, but wholly unable to decipher them.

"Itachi," he whispered. "What is that?"

"The Yondaime Hokage's mark," Itachi said lowly. "The Flying Thunder God." Sasuke inhaled sharply. He knew what _that _meant. Everyone knew how the Yondaime had won the Third Great Shinobi War, after all.

Fugaku was next in line, and then Mikoto with Kushina's assistance, and on and on down the line. The Yondaime made quick work of the gathered shinobi, working himself up to a rhythm that had him gliding through the motions of drawing his seal in less than ten seconds per shinobi. Then, finally, there was no one left between Sasuke and the Hokage but for Itachi. His older brother dropped into a crouch before the Hokage.

"Well now, Itachi," the Yondaime said wryly, dipping his brush into the ink lurking beneath his skin and starting in on the ANBU's already bare forehead. "We've done what we can. It's up to them from here." He tapped a finger to his mark when he was done inking it, and this close up Sasuke saw it flash a vibrant sky blue before sinking into his brother's skin.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Itachi said, and the sheer relief in his voice was such a sharp contrast to everything else going on that it seemed to throweveryone for a loop. Except, of course, for the Yondaime and his fiery companion. Sasuke's brother tied his hitai ate back on, not over the seal like the rest of his clansmen, but around his neck. The Yondaime's mark stood out proudly on his brow.

Sasuke felt a hand fall upon his shoulder a grip it tightly, and he jerked up to look into his father's grim face. He wasn't wearing a hitai ate, hadn't worn one since he retired before Sasuke was born, so instead he'd wound clean white bandages over the mark. Mikoto stood beside him, similarly bandaged and with a tearful little smile of reassurance for him. Kushina had returned to the Yondaime's side, and both of them seemed content to wait for Sasuke.

"Remember this moment, Sasuke," Fugaku said, almost under his breath. His bottomless black eyes were narrow and furious, and when he spoke his voice shook with the effort it took for him to control it. "Remember this moment, when your brother betrayed us. Remember this moment, when the Hokage shackled you to him for no fault of your own. Never forget it." His grip tightened until it was well past painful, and Sasuke grit his teeth down on a sound of pain. "_Remember this_."

He would.

"Hello again, Uchiha-san," the Yondaime greeted him when he knelt in front of him, with that same mock-seriousness that did not at all fit the atmosphere anymore. "You did very well today. In fact, I think a little something extra on top of your payment is in order. Something strawberry-flavored, maybe. What say you?"

"How many times must I tell you to stop smuggling candy in your flak jacket before you'll listen?" Kushina asked, her tone one of endless suffering.

"Before I'll listen?" He hummed thoughtfully, dipping his brush into his palm again. He winked at Sasuke. "You'd have to tell me for a while, I think." Kushina scoffed.

"Just don't come crying to me when you get stabbed because you reached for a kunai and came up with a lollipop."

"Learn from my mistakes, Uchiha-san," the Yondaime murmured gravely, pressing the brush to Sasuke's brow. The ink was warm. "Never marry an Uzumaki." Said Uzumaki scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't you listen to this nancy boy, Sasuke," she said, and Sasuke couldn't help but crack a grin at the offended look on the Hokage's face as he mouthed 'nancy boy?'. "If you can find an Uzumaki girl your age, you snatch her up right away! You'll never find a better wife. This guy really doesn't deserve me." She sniffed, bumping the Hokage with her hip. He didn't falter for a second in his sealing, but his eyes danced as he worked.

"Can't disagree with that," he admitted.

"Hokage-sama," Sasuke said, his nerves eased just enough by their banter to pose the question that had been churning away in his head since his clan's shinobi had arrived. "Can I- _May I _ask you something?"

"Of course."

Sasuke took a moment to gather himself, waiting until the Yondaime had tapped a finger to his forehead, sealing the mark into his skin. Then he asked, "Why am I the only civilian in line?"

The Yondaime rested one hand on his crossed legs, and propped his chin up with the other, studying Sasuke. Beside him, Kushina crouched down and ran her hands through Sasuke's hair with a comforting little smile. Sasuke didn't mean to lean into her hand, but he did. The feeling was achingly similar to the one he got when his mother cared for him in his times of distress.

"I came here to save your family, today," the Yondaime finally said.

"From what?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Themselves, mostly," he admitted, and Kushina snorted beside him, muttering something under her breath. He looked chidingly to her, and then he turned back to Sasuke with _real _gravity in his bearing, not the fake kind he'd been favoring Sasuke with since showing up.

"I put this seal on your clan's shinobi because of your older brother," he said. Sasuke looked sharply to his brother, standing quietly off to the side, separate from the rest of their clansmen. His father's words tumbled around in his head. "He convinced me it's what they need right now," the Yondaime continued, pulling his attention back. He tapped Sasuke's forehead again, the gesture just as familiar as Kushina's, but for different reasons.

"So I think it's only fair that you be the one to convince me they don't need it anymore, when the time comes." Sky blue eyes peered at Sasuke, _into _Sasuke, and the Hokage asked, "Do you think you're up to the task?"

Sasuke breathed in shakily, feeling the weight of his entire clan's attention upon him. He was young, he had yet to grasp the full consequences of this, of how difficult his life was going to be in the years to follow. But he understood one thing, and he understood it well. The Yondaime was offering his family a way out of the shackles he'd just locked them in, and that way lay in Sasuke. He was offering Sasuke a chance to do what he'd always dreamed of doing- to prove his worth.

Even more than that, he was offering Sasuke a chance to prove the _Uchiha's _worth. Not Itachi, not Fugaku, not anybody else. He was placing the pride and freedom of Sasuke's clan entirely in his hands.

How could he ever refuse?

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"


End file.
